ASUS has revealed the price and release date for the ROG Ally and it’s just as expected, with the device coming in at a very competitive price when compared to the Steam Deck.
Right now, we only have US release details (but we believe Australia isn’t too far away). The 512GB/Z1 Extreme version of the ASUS Rog Ally is releasing in the US on June 16th for $699 USD (~$1042 AUD).
The 256GB Z1 base model will launch in Q1 2023 for $599 USD (~$893 AUD).
Just like AYANEO devices, the ASUS ROG Ally will run Windows 11 out of the box which means you’ll be able to run games from the likes of Steam, Epic, Xbox Game Pass, EA Play, Ubisoft Connect and more, with three months of Xbox Game Pass included in the box.
As far as specs go, the display is a 7″ 1080p 120HZ touch display, so on specs alone, it’s better than anything we’ve seen in a handheld of this calibre. It also has a custom AMD Ryzen Z1 Zen 4 RDNA 3 GPU meaning it should offer a hefty performance boost on both the AYANEO 2 and Steam Deck which use RDNA 2 architecture. It’ll have a 512GB SSD for storage and quick booting of games. ASUS also called out the weight of the device at 608G which is a decent 50 grams lighter than both the Steam Deck and AYANEO 2.
Other inputs include a finger print detection power button and mappable back triggers. As far as the OS goes, it’ll run Windows 11 but ASUS has created a special version of its software called Armoury Crate SE that will provide a launcher for your games, as well as the ability to easily customise your console.